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New proposal for using ERDF support for the housing sector

On the 3rd of December the European Commission adopted a proposal which will, for the first time, enable all Member States and regions in the European Union to invest in energy-efficiency and renewable energy measures in housing, with the support of European Cohesion Policy funding.

Current legislation on the EU Structural Funds gives new Member States only a limited right to use support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for housing. It can only be used for common parts of a building (or the entire building in the case of social housing) in deprived urban areas. The new proposal would allow the whole EU-27 to benefit from ERDF support for energy efficiency and renewable energy investment in all types of buildings. However, interventions can target only low-income households (as defined by national rules).

In concrete terms, interventions could co-finance, for example, national, regional or local schemes for insulation of walls, roofing and windows (double-glazing), solar panels, and replacement of old boilers for more energy-efficient ones.Measures to speed up energy investment in buildings will contribute to the following objectives:

inject dynamism into the European economy, promote EU competitiveness and job creation, notably in the construction industry;

improve know-how in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energies;

underpin the objectives of other Community policies such as energy security, environment and the fight against climate change.

To date, through the Cohesion Policy, the 27 Member States have planned to invest €4.8 billion on renewable energies and €4.2 billion on energy efficiency and energy management measures.

The Member States and the Parliament will have to adopt this Commission’s proposal, in accordance with the co-decision procedure. The measure is foreseen in the European Economic Recovery Plan.